Food News: Local 360 Opens, Lunchbox Laboratory Relocates, More

This week I'm hoping to get a peek inside of Local 360, the new Belltown market and restaurant which is open for breakfast (chicken fried steak & eggs), lunch (corned beef Reuben with beef tongue, anyone?) and dinner (pork belly & beans, short rib pot roast) in the old Flying Fish space on 1st and Bell. Marcus Charles, part-owner of the Crocodile and owner of the Juju Lounge, is the brains behind the place, and early word has been very good.

After months of speculation, we now know that Ballard burger mecca, Lunchbox Laboratory, is closing. But worry not! It'll reopen as a full-service Lunchbox Laboratory later this month (or in early February) under new ownership inside the Southlake Grill space. The man who thought up the DORK (duck and pork) burger (among many other deliciously massive creations), chef Scott Simpson will helm the kitchen in the new space.

If pie is the new ice cream, and ice cream was the new pizza, burgers must be the new pie, because Dope Burger just opened in the old Noodle Ranch space on 2nd Avenue in Belltown. The owner is a Spring Hill alum, which can only mean good things. Plus, the menu looks mighty tasty, especially the Reuben burger with pastrami, Swiss and sauerkraut, and the Blue Onion with blue cheese, bacon and--why not?--an onion ring.

Of course this comes on the heals of Scott Staples' (Zoe, Quinn's) new Uneeda Burger in Fremont, which opened right before the new year. Holy cow: if you haven't gotten a taste of the lamb burger with tempura'd lemons and Manchego cheese, well, you really, really should.